Convicted Pleasure Point killer faces return to prison

Pleasure Point >> A former local youth football coach and convicted felon arrested by the FBI on federal gun charges Wednesday could face up to 10 years in prison.

Giraldo Angelo Sultana, 58, was arrested in an pre-dawn raid at his home on the 700 block of 37th Avenue with the help of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office and Santa Cruz Police Department. At his initial federal court appearance in federal court in San Jose on Thursday, a judge granted the U.S. Attorney's Office request to keep Sultana in jail pending a formal detention hearing Wednesday, an agency spokeswoman said.

In court documents filed in United States District Court Northern District in San Jose on Wednesday, Sultana is accused of being a felon in possession of firearms. In an FBI search of his home, agents found a loaded .45-caliber Springfield XD semi-automatic pistol under Sultana's bedroom pillow, and an unloaded Springfield .308 caliber rifle in his garage, Special Agent Rory McAbee said in a court filing.

Sultana could face up fine of up to $250,000, in addition to a prison term.

Based on a tip from a confidential informant, the FBI was also looking for M14 and AR-10 rifles, officials said.

During the property search, the FBI also reported finding an "apparent marijuana grow operation" with numerous marijuana plants in the garage.

Sultana, who is known by his middle name of Angelo, served as a Santa Cruz Pop Warner football coach 15 years ago and five years ago with the Peninsula Pop Warner, Santa Cruz Pop Warner head coach Ernie Camacho said Thursday.

Sultana's felon history is tied to a 1986 conviction of voluntary manslaughter, involving the potentially drug-related death of a 22-year-old local musician the year prior. He served six years on an 11-year prison sentence, the FBI said.

In Sentinel news reports of the court hearings, Sultana was said to have been at the home of Simon Phillips to purchase cocaine on Jan. 2, 1985. Later, Phillips was found with his head beaten in by a metal object.

No murder weapon was found, nor motive established in the case. Then-Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Thomas Black blasted the Santa Cruz Police Department for allowing some of the crime scene evidence to be destroyed or lost, resulting in Sultana's charge being downgraded from murder to manslaughter.